by Amy Sumida
I screamed as I came, and I didn't take my eyes off him.
“That's it,” the Wolf groaned. “You are mine, Mate. Your sex slicks for me, and I command your body.” He grabbed me by the ankles and yanked me beneath him. “Look on me and know that there is no one who could ever take you from me. I will not allow it; not in body or mind.”
I slid my hands up his corded forearms and wrapped them around his biceps; holding on as if we were riding out a storm together.
“No one,” I said confidently. “And I will never allow myself to be parted from you.”
The Wolf closed his eyes and growled low, but it was a joyous sound. When he opened those honey eyes, they were glowing softly. He rubbed his lips against mine and covered me with his body. Then he rose up and stared down at me possessively.
“Take my sex and guide it into yours,” he said.
I reached between us and wrapped my hand around the velvet heat of him. The Wolf inhaled sharply as I rubbed him gently and guided him to my opening. I was drenched with desire and there was barely any resistance. He slid in to the hilt with one thrust; a small, shocked snarl escaping his lips. And then the Wolf set his stare on mine; it was back to burning.
“Now, we take back our love,” he growled viciously and began slamming into me.
Here was the storm I'd been anticipating, but I wasn't just going to ride it out. I lifted my hips—matching him slam for slam—and clawed at his shoulders as he made savage sounds in his throat. His thick sex filled me completely and every thrust brought his pelvis into shocking connection with my clit. I was screaming in seconds.
The Wolf bared his teeth in a smile of victory and set them to the tender skin of my throat. He bit down, and I shattered.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Oh, Gods, what we did together. The Wolf was primal and sexual in ways that no lover had ever been with me. Utterly insatiable; as soon as he came, he would set himself to pleasing me until he hardened again. He filled me and stroked me and licked me in every way that he could. He did things to me—and made me do things to him—that I never thought I'd enjoy. He did it in steps; methodically cunning and ruthless. A touch here and then a quick withdrawal. A sharp command and then a gentle request. He begged me without humbling himself and made me beg without feeling humbled. I was so consumed with him that everything Katila had done to me was burned to ash. My memories of Thor and Blue in those other timelines—gone. Thoughts of everyone else were dampened to a hazy blur. It was just me and my Wolf.
He shifted into his werewolf form and chased me through the woods. I'd run and hide; but never too well. Because when he caught me, he'd hold my neck between his teeth and fill me with his flesh. He'd pour his honey down my throat and across my skin. He'd rub it into me with clawed hands. The Wolf would stroke his fur, and his face, and his sex over me everywhere until I couldn't tell his scent from mine. He was power and passion. Thrashing hips and raging cock. Burning eyes and bulging muscles. He flayed open my soul and then licked my raw wounds.
And that was only the first day.
I reeled in his sexual prowess; my Lust rising time and time again so that I could match his passion. The red nimbus would settle around us; urging us to greater heights. Demanding more and more of us. And somewhere in the madness and pleasure and savagery of it all, the Wolf healed me. He didn't just heal the recent wounds; he healed all of them. The chains and whips of Aphrodite, the knives and teeth of Phobos and Deimos, the unending cyber torture of Iktomi, the mental and physical rapes by Blue and Anubis, even Naye's searing sessions. Every pain and humiliation—all the emotional and physical hurts—were obliterated by the Wolf's hands and tongue and teeth and cock. His ass pumping beneath my palms, his teeth closing around my throat, his burning gaze locked on mine, and his calming commands; they all wove into the most sublime spell. It felt good to give myself over to someone I trusted implicitly; someone I knew would never hurt me. The Wolf filled my world to overflowing; leaving no room for anything else.
I was utterly his.
I had no concept of time in that bed. There were moments when we saw to our other bodily needs. I know he brought me food, that we bathed together, and relieved ourselves. But when those nuisances were seen to, we went right back into each other's arms. Into the yawning maw of pleasure.
There came a moment when I couldn't tell us apart. We had sunk so deep into each other that I could hear his thoughts. They were wild and vicious, but also so achingly tender that I wept when I heard them. The way he thought about me—the image he had of me in his head—it was profoundly beautiful. He was possessive and jealous with an instinctive need to have me to himself. But beneath that driving force was something that was primal in the most poignant way. He loved me with every piece of his being; with everything he'd given me—his soul, his blood, his body, and his mind. They were all saturated with me. The Wolf's love was that of the beast for his mate; eternal and uncompromising. The first love the Earth had ever witnessed.
“You are mine,” the Wolf said again. “And I am yours, Mate. Nothing else matters.”
And it didn't. He made me say it to him, over and over; vow to him that he was everything to me—my true alpha. I cried it into his chest, I screamed it as I came, I purred it into his ear, and I whispered it to him at night. How many nights; I didn't know until later. But I spent them all entwined with him; his body inside and around mine even as we slept. When we woke, it would start all over again. He'd hold my arms pinned above me, and I felt no fear; none of the trembling panic that always consumed me when I was restrained. The stain of past torments had been scrubbed away with a rough wolf tongue and his wet, sliding sex. I was free to love as I wished. He gave that to me.
Images of what we did together in that cabin would haunt me—in the best of ways—for the rest of my life. I would look back and smile and shiver and then search for my Wolf to ease the ache that just thinking about him brought. That was how deep he'd pushed himself inside me.
And then there came the morning that Love rose instead of Lust. The butterflies filled my chest and burst free; into my Wolf in a colorful rush of delicate wings. The Wolf was kissing me—his body held by mine again—and he broke away to gasp in rapturous joy. He filled me with his essence as he stared lovingly into my eyes, and I knew that I had just conceived our son. The Wolf saw it in my face—felt the knowledge rise through us with my magic—and howled in happiness. I had never seen him so blissful.
I held my wolf to me as the aftershocks wound down; weeping onto his warm skin with elation. Our son was growing inside me along with our love; love which I'd thought could grow no larger. I'd been so wrong. Love knows no boundaries; it can grow infinitely. My Wolf was mine again, and I was his. What else could I wish for?
Then I looked up at him and knew.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The thought of what I needed to do for my wolf floated away on pleasure. The Wolf kept every nerve in my body sensitized and craving him. Every thought I had was for him. He pulled me down with him into our beast natures. And I gloried in it. There was no worry, no pain, and no fear. We were truly gods; taking and giving to each other in the ancient, sacred cycle of passion. The Wolf had accomplished what he wanted—our healing and his child growing inside me—but he couldn't stop. There was too much emotion between us; too much raw love. And Lust.
After we conceived our son, the Lust returned; almost as if a dam had been broken. It raged through me and into him in savage celebration. If the Wolf had considered stopping, that thought disappeared with the haze of red that rose around and inside us. It pushed us forward and then let us go; a kite released into a thundercloud. But somehow, the Wolf always found his way down to earth, and he'd pull me with him.
“Drink.” The Wolf held something cool to my lips.
I drank greedily; my eyes popping open to look at him gratefully as I gulped. The Wolf brushed back the tangled hair from my face; a tender expression on his. I got lost in that tenderness and the g
entle feel of his hand. I brushed away the glass. He set it aside absently. The energy between us was transforming again; sending his hand down, down, down. His fingers teased my sex. His lips teased my own. Groans rose between us as I sucked on the tip of his tongue. My legs spread wide. The Wolf growled again; that deep, utterly sexual baritone that came from his chest but sounded as if it rose from even lower. It undid me every time. Just listening to him growl drenched me.
“No,” the Wolf groaned as he pulled away. “You need to eat, Mate. Open your mouth.”
He held something to my lips. I stared at him with half-lidded eyes; wanting so much more than the fruit he offered me. I wanted meat and blood and honey. I wanted to consume him as he consumed me. He saw it in my eyes and shivered; his honey gaze going molten. Boiling sugar; deadly and sweet.
“Eat,” he commanded as he put a bowl in my hands. “And I will as well.”
The Wolf spread my legs and feasted. It was enough to get me through my own meal. I carefully put each piece of fruit in my mouth as he used his mouth on me. I watched him hungrily, despite the fact that he was seeing to all of my hungers at once. I couldn't get enough of him; I would never be satisfied. It took all of my will to hold that bowl instead of tossing it aside and straddling him.
The Wolf's powerful shoulders spread my thighs. His dark, tousled hair tickled me. His head moved purposefully. He angled his eyes up to me and watched me back; making sure I finished every last piece. And then he pounced.
Heaven was mine again. My Wolf was a part of me; sliding and grinding us toward the delicious ecstasy we couldn't get enough of. And after we reached that satisfaction, he carried me to a bath of hot water and slick soap. He washed my hair tenderly and my body not so tenderly. Tongues tangled. Water spilled. Hips slammed together. Those eyes. Those arms. Those hands. Those teeth. I couldn't stop looking, loving, and longing for more.
“Say it again.”
“I'm yours,” I whispered. “You're mine. That's all that matters.”
A throat cleared from the other room. “Brother?”
The Wolf snarled; his face instantly feral. Teeth bared, muscles strained, and the cock inside me surged deeper. I clung to him. Was someone here to take him from me? No; he wouldn't let them. My Wolf would kill anyone who dared, and I would help him.
“Get out!” The Wolf shouted.
“Trevor,” the voice was calm, “it's your brother, Ty. I'm outside the bedroom. I can't see your mate. I'm not here to take her from you.”
The Wolf calmed. “What do you want?”
“It's been four days, Brother,” Ty said. “There's shit going down. Bad shit. The two of you are needed. Your family is at the Hall. Some of them never leave, Bro. Dad is getting worried. He sent me out to talk to you.”
“Go back,” the Wolf said. “Tell them that she's mine. Tell them I'll bring her back when I'm fucking ready!”
“All right, all right,” Ty said placatingly. “I'll tell them. But Dad's not going to like this.”
“Get the fuck out!”
The voice was gone. The Wolf started thrusting again; furious slams that sent water in my face. I didn't care. I closed my eyes and held on. I knew he'd protect us. That's what he did. My beautiful Wolf. My lover. My mate. My world. Nothing would come between us.
Until the next day.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Sunlight on silky, maple skin. I ran my hand over the dips and rises of the Wolf's body. Our legs were entwined; his hands on my face and back. We stared at each other like there was nothing else meaningful to look at. We were sated—for now—and enjoying a rare moment of languidness. It had become so that every rub of my skin against his—a sliding leg, a questing hand, a licking tongue—brought me sublime pleasure. I could come with the simplest of touches.
I think I would do just that. Who needs languor?
A knock startled us. The Wolf grabbed me and rolled me gracefully behind him. He crouched before me on the bed; ready to pounce. His teeth were bared, his hands shifted into claws, and his gaze was set on the open, bedroom door. My heart pounded with fright... but I still craved him. He'd take care of this, and I would take care of him.
I rose to my knees behind him, leaned against his back, and rubbed myself wantonly over the Wolf; kissing his shoulders and nibbling on his neck. I could feel the presence of several people in the hallway, but I didn't care. My hands slid around my wolf's waist, and I started rubbing his sex. He was hard as marble, despite the nearby threat.
“What the fuck?” A horrified voice asked.
“Stay back,” another voice commanded; this one was deeper and dangerous. “I said you could come only if you let me handle it.”
“We know,” another voice said evenly. “Azrael was just surprised by the state of them. Go ahead; we'll stay out of it.”
The Wolf growled.
“Don't you growl at me, Pup!” The voice snapped.
I lifted my head. Honey eyes like my wolf's stared back at me. They widened in surprise. I kept rubbing myself against my mate and my hands over his sex. The Wolf pushed leaned back against me and rocked his hips forward even as he narrowed his glare at this man.
“Father,” the Wolf said. “Why are you here?”
“You've had her a good while, Son,” Father said. “It's time to bring her home.”
Home. I was home. Home was the Wolf's heart. Home was his kisses and his hands on my skin. Home was his sex in mine.
“No,” the Wolf said calmly.
“People are dying,” Father said softly. “They need her. They need you. You said you'd bargain with her. Did you? Did you come to an... oh, Gods, Little Frami, please stop doing that.”
I looked up at the words. I knew this Father. I had laid between him and a woman with soft eyes. They held me while I cried... over the Wolf. My hand withdrew. I wrapped both of my arms around the Wolf's waist instead. Then I laid my head on his shoulders and stared at the Father Wolf.
“Thank you,” Father said in relief. “Son, try to remember. There is more than this. This is good; I'm happy you have this. But there is more. There is family.”
The Wolf made a satisfied sound and smiled.
“We have family here,” I said proudly. “I carry his son.”
Father's face broke into sunshine. His smile made the scars on his cheek disappear. He was beautiful; so like my Wolf.
“I...” Father swallowed roughly. “I'm so happy, VeúlfR. Congratulations, Vervain.” He turned and shouted, “We will have another prince!”
Cheering came from far away; outside the bedroom where the Wolf and me loved each other. But there was also shocked exclamations, and Father's eyes shifted angrily toward them.
“He has waited too long for this,” Father growled to someone.
“We know, Fenrir,” the calm voice said again. “We're happy for him. Just startled again. She's only been gone five days.”
“It only takes five seconds.” Father settled back into his happiness and looked at the Wolf. “You got what you wanted, Son. Now, bring her back to us. Look at her; you've taken her into her beasts. Is this truly what you want?”
The Wolf turned and looked at me. His hand caressed my face, and he smiled softly. I smiled back at him. I never wanted to see him sad.
“Yes,” my Wolf said. “She is what I'll always want.”
“But there is so much more to our little frami than this,” Father said. “She is strong and brave. She's wise and loving. You are robbing her of her humanity to satisfy needs that have gone unfulfilled. I understand, but this is enough, VeúlfR. Enough!” The last word cracked through the room.
The Wolf sighed deeply; his shoulders settling. “Get out; I will bring her back.”
“No,” I whispered.
Father nodded and shut the door.
The Wolf turned to me.
“No!” I shouted and clung to him. “Don't leave me. You promised to stay.”
“I'm not leaving; I will never leave. I love you, Mate,�
�� he vowed. “I love you beyond myself. Beyond this body and its desires. And I love more than your body and desires. We must leave now and live like gods again. Our son will need his family; all of them.”
“Our son,” I whispered as the joy of those words whipped through me again.
“Look at me, Mate.” The Wolf held my face in his hands and stared into my eyes, but it wasn't just me he spoke to when he said, “Release her.”
Something whimpered inside me.
“Release her!” He snarled.
I roared; pushing him away.
“Is this what you want, Dragon?” He used Father's words against us. “You want her here with me forever? Don't you have somewhere else you'd like to be?”
The dragon settled.
“I thought so,” the Wolf looked smug and sad at the same time. “Release her. It's time to go home.”
My beasts withdrew suddenly, and I gasped as I fell forward. My body was alive in ways it had never been before; my muscles tight and lean. I felt strong and sexy and... guilty. Not for what I'd done with the Wolf but for what this might have done to my other lovers. I had languished here in pleasure while they had doubtless worried for me. Had I helped one to hurt the rest?
“Oh, no,” I whispered and lifted my head. “How long have we been here?”